My Life List: Time for an update

About a year and a half ago, I was inspired to write my own bucket list by reading the wonderful list my dear friend Sarah had created and shared on her blog. I did a little bit of research online as far as what was typical for these "before I'm gone" kinds of goals, and as you can imagine, there are as many of these out there as there are good ideas to add to them.

I found that some people have multiple lists for different things they want to do: places to go, adventures to have, restaurants to try, famous people to meet. When I began compiling my list, I included some very aspirational things that may never happen without heroic effort and everyday things that should be easy to do but for the million and one things that get in the way and then suddenly, life has passed you by.

Reinforced for me in this exercise was the magic of writing something down - when you can see it in writing it is more concrete, more tangible, and more attainable than a wish voiced in a conversation or an idea texted back and forth but never solidified. The list has given me something to return to, to measure my passing days by, and to inspire me for the coming days. It helped us "just do it" this past summer, giving me the opportunity to do more than one thing on the list in a single epic adventure. And that same trip inspired me to add a few more things to the list.

So after 18 months of some successes and some misses against the list, I'm officially updating it. It's still the big and the little things; that's what this blog was meant to celebrate, so it feels right for my personal list to have both. I still think of it as my Life List vs. a Bucket List, as it has added more life to the 365 days I have each year.

1. Donate enough money to have my name on something at West Point
2. Celebrate the 4th of July in Boston
3. Win 1st place in my age group in a race - DONE!!
4. Cross something off a friend's life list together
5. Sing in a symphony chorus
6. Go to the Olympic Games
7. Watch Army play in a bowl game in person
8. Take a train as my primary mode of transportation on a trip or vacation
9. See my cousin Jay perform live
10. Become a published author
11. Visit the American Cemetery in Normandy
12. Take my kids to the Army/Navy game
13. Be in Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day
14. Run a marathon in all 50 states
15. See Mt. Rushmore - DONE!!
16. Take a Creative Writing course
17. Go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC 
18. Buy something at the actual brick-and-mortar Akinz, my cousin Suzanne's retail store - DONE!!
19. Swim around Key West
20. Watch the Dallas Cowboys play a regular season game in Cowboys Stadium
21. Spend a whole day riding roller coasters and amusement park rides with my kids - DONE!!
22. Give a graduation speech
23. Tour the White House
24. Complete a full Ironman Triathlon
25. Hike some of the Appalachian Trail
26. Grow strawberries in my garden - DONE!!
27. Learn to surf
28. Visit Yellowstone National Park - DONE!!
29. Sew matching outfits for my daughter and her American Girl doll
30. Qualify for and run the Boston Marathon 
31. Decorate a fancy cake, like one from a bakery
32. Cook / bake every single recipe in a cookbook
33. Own season tickets to something
34. See the Rose Parade in person
35. Take a vacation with my sister Susannah, just the two of us
36. Read a biography of every U.S. President
37. See Lenny Kravitz in concert
38. Own a convertible
39. Take my kids on a Civil War staff ride vacation
40. Apply to be a contestant on The Amazing Race
41. See the California Redwoods
42. Walk underneath / behind a waterfall
43. Legitimately begin a presentation with the words, "My fellow Americans..."
44. Ride my bike across a state
45. Hike to the most remote spot in the lower 48
46. Ride my bike through a national park

A few more added to the list, a few more complete. I'm sure I'll keep adding ideas as they pop into my head.

What about you? Do you have a list? If you don't, what are you waiting for? Grab a piece of paper, a pen, a marker, whatever inspires you. Write something down. It doesn't have to be 46 different things - start with one, or three, or ten. Just start. You'll be inspired when you realize how rich your life is because of the big and little things that you could do if you made a point to.

Our special guest - Colt, John and Caroline's Saturday night

We have a special guest this evening - our friend Colt's mom and dad had a fundraising gala to attend, so we got to have Colt over! He's such a precious little boy, and some of the things he says absolutely crack. me. up. Here are some highlights from our evening!

Car ride conversation on the way to Saturday mass:

My best friend is four. She's still in preschool. We've been friends for about twenty-one years. Or maybe a few months. 

My birthday is June 18th. That was fifty years ago. Or maybe a week ago. 

Leaving mass: your church is waaaaay different than mine!

At the restaurant: say pizza!!

Caroline, let's make a together picture.

Ms. Amanda, when someone's done talking on a walkie talkie, do you say Rogers Backs?

And reading Treasure Island before bed: Ms. Amanda, are we going to read any books that have pictures on every page or just this one with words?

Every moment is special - and some are funnier than others. We're so glad Colt got to spend Saturday evening with us!!

The Big Things and the Little Things: my Life List

At this point, pretty much everyone knows the concept of a Bucket List. Thanks to Hollywood, maybe most of us have seen a fictionalized account of living the dream of marking every single item off. But I bet very few of us have taken the time to sit, think, and write out the wonderful experiences that would make our time here uniquely our own, individual experience.

My dear friend Sarah (whose blog inspired me to start my own) has an excellent list, and in the Grand Re-Opening of her "Musings of Mother Hood" blog, she's revisited the list that she wrote several years ago. She calls it her "Life List," which I prefer to "Bucket List," so I'm borrowing that moniker, too.

Reading Sarah's list the first time, and again this time, naturally got me thinking: what would be on my list?

I started one several months ago, but I have to admit that thinking of 100, even 50, things that were dramatic enough or inspiring enough or unique enough to include on the list is a daunting task. To the point that when I tried it the first time, I got less than one page of a small spiral notebook into my list, put it down, and didn't return to it. Until today. (Weirdly, I did manage to cross one thing off the list in the lapse between then and now... so it counts. Totally.)

With Sarah's recent post, I'm inspired to start again. Maybe my list won't have 100 things on it - for some reason, 100 feels like the magic number to me - but nobody said I had to write the whole the list right now, and nobody said it couldn't be a running list as I am inspired by the little things that happen, 365 days a year. That's what this blog is all about in the first place, right?

So here goes: the beginnings of the list of all the cool things I want to do while I'm here.

1. Donate enough money to have my name on something at West Point
2. Celebrate the 4th of July in Boston
3. Win 1st place in my age group in a race - DONE!!
4. Cross something off a friend's life list together
5. Sing in a symphony chorus
6. Go to the Olympic Games
7. Watch Army play in a bowl game in person
8. Take a train as my primary mode of transportation on a trip or vacation
9. See my cousin Jay perform live
10. Become a published author
11. Visit the American Cemetery in Normandy
12. Take my kids to the Army/Navy game
13. Be in Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day
14. Run a marathon in all 50 states
15. See Mt. Rushmore
16. Take a Creative Writing course
17. Go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC 
18. Buy something at the actual brick-and-mortar Akinz, my cousin Suzanne's retail store - DONE!!
19. Swim around Key West
20. Watch the Dallas Cowboys play a regular season game in Cowboys Stadium
21. Spend a whole day riding roller coasters and amusement park rides with my kids - DONE!!
22. Give a graduation speech
23. Tour the White House
24. Complete a full Ironman Triathlon
25. Hike some of the Appalachian Trail
26. Grow strawberries in my garden
27. Learn to surf
28. Visit Yellowstone National Park
29. Sew matching outfits for my daughter and her American Girl doll
30. Qualify for and run the Boston Marathon 
31. Decorate a fancy cake, like one from a bakery
32. Cook / bake every single recipe in a cookbook
33. Own season tickets to something
34. See the Rose Parade in person
35. Take a vacation with my sister Susannah, just the two of us
36. Read a biography of every U.S. President
37. See Lenny Kravitz in concert
38. Own a convertible
39. Take my kids on a Civil War staff ride vacation
40. Apply to be a contestant on The Amazing Race
41. See the California Redwoods
42. Walk underneath / behind a waterfall
43. Legitimately begin a presentation with the words, "My fellow Americans..."

Do you have a list? Any recommendations for me? Anything you thought for sure you'd see on my list but is conspicuously absent?